1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid discharge device, which discharges liquid from nozzles provided on the nozzle forming surface of a head, and a method of cleaning the head of the device.
2. Related Art
In the related art, a liquid discharge device, such as an ink jet printer, which discharges liquid, such as ink, from the nozzles of a discharge head, is known. In such a device, there is a case in which liquid discharged from the nozzles adheres to the nozzle forming surface of the discharge head. If the liquid proceed to adhere to the nozzle forming surface, the liquid is not appropriately discharged from the nozzles, and thus there is a problem in that deterioration in image quality is caused. Here, various technologies are proposed to remove the liquid which adheres to the nozzle forming surface of the discharge head.
For example, in a liquid discharge device disclosed in JP-A-2014-172238, cleaning liquid is supplied to a head, and then a wiping member performs relative movement on a nozzle forming surface in a state in which the wiping member comes into contact with the nozzle forming surface. Accordingly, chemical cleaning and physical cleaning are performed in parallel by the cleaning liquid and the wiping member, respectively, and thus the cleaning efficiency of the nozzle forming surface is optimized.
Foreign substances, which adhere to the nozzle forming surface, drop out due to the cleaning liquid. However, there is a case in which the dropped-out foreign substances are pushed to the side of the nozzle forming surface during the time when the wiping member performs relative movement on the nozzle forming surface, and thus the foreign substances rub the inside of the nozzles. Further, there is a case in which this becomes one of the factors of defective discharge.